word | spirit | world | church
It’s approaching Christmas time. We’re beginning, perhaps, to hear Christmas sermons, depending on how your tradition structures these things. In the Evangelical world someone somewhere is advising us to remember to include the cross in our preaching—don’t give them the cute and sentimentalised baby Jesus, remind them that the meaning of Christmas is found at… Continue reading God in the Manger
There’s a common story people tell at Christmas time, not the one on which the world turns, or the one about the chimney-diving elf, but one about how all the traditions we use to celebrate the birth of Christ are actually pagan in origin. This varies in intensity, but these killjoys are keen to make… Continue reading On Christmas Trees
In one of the most beautiful carols that we sing at this time of year, we declare with the heavenly host that we will “fall on our knees.” Or more precisely, we call each other to fall on your knees. https://youtu.be/izx1P9jvLw0 To prepare for the coming of God: either first on that Holy Night of… Continue reading Fall on Your Knees
Autumn’s final blast of anger against Winter’s unthinking hate is over, every leaf that cannot cling to life has lit the match to self-immolate in protest. We have enjoyed the beauty of that unconstrained rage. This is the story the seasons tell—or one of them at any rate. Snow lay on the ground earlier this… Continue reading All Creation Waits
I wonder if you’ve ever cut down a tree? I’ve done a few small ones over the years, and it’s a hard job. We’ve mostly gone the root of chopping off all the branches with a big pair of loppers or a reciprocating saw, so that you’re left with a tall trunk in the ground… Continue reading Advent’s Axe
Advent starts on Sunday, which will confuse some of you because you’re expecting it to start next Thursday. Others of you will be appalled at the idea of ‘doing Christmas’ in November—well we won’t be, we’ll be celebrating Advent. Advent is dark. Advent is bleak. Advent is about staring at the wretched core of the… Continue reading Advent is coming
We should thank God when he does things that are good. Because it’s polite. Also, because we’re told to (1 Thessalonians 5, Hebrews 12), pretty much (Psalm 103, Colossians 3), all over (Isaiah 12, Psalm 107), the Bible (1 Chronicles 16, Psalm 95). Our lives are supposed to be defined by thanksgiving. Let’s unpick my… Continue reading On Thankfulness
The forest burned down since last I went. England has faced a series of brutal heatwaves this summer along with much of the rest of Europe. Wildfires are uncommon here, but in the hottest heatwave the Lickey Hills above Birmingham sparked into blaze. Acres of woodland at the edge of the city were gone across… Continue reading After the Burning
The Church Calendar is textured by periods of fasting followed by periods of feasting. For most 21st century Christians both seem pretty weird. Though my guess would be that you think you know your way around feasting—we are a culture of conspicuous consumption, after all—but fasting is anathema to the world we live in. Why… Continue reading Feasting & Fasting
An obvious yes, right? Except, where does it say that? You’re about to have a harder time than you expected. You might point to the use of genos in 1 Peter 2, though that’s usually translated ‘race’ and if we translated it family we would mean in the very broad sense that I and all… Continue reading Is the Church a Family?
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